Accidentally in Love
by theladyisatramp13
Summary: Bella is back in Forks to care for her sick father. It's only inevitable that she runs into the Cullen family. Six years after a a prank that caused her to question those she loved she wants to know why but is she prepared for the answers. M, OOC


**Disclaimer…It should be plain to see that I am not Stephanie Meyer and therefore do no own the Twilight Saga. This story is rated M and if you are under 18 you probably shouldn't be reading it. Sparkly Red Pen hooked me up with two awesome ladies. Check them out if you're in need of a Beta or Prereader. **

_Accidently in Love_

_Chapter 1_

My sneakers pounded the wet pavement as drops of chilly rain hit my face and neck. It was always cold here: cold and wet. I missed the warmth of the sun. I ran past the town's only diner and turned at the end of the street to run back to my father's house; he would surely be up by now. I wanted to be mad at him, angry that he'd never told me, his only daughter, but I couldn't. Being here meant that I had lost my first job opportunity before I had even officially accepted it and I had no idea how I was going to get by, but the simple fact was that my father Charlie needed me, and so I had left Phoenix and headed to my hometown of Forks, Washington, to be near him.

I wasn't surprised that Charlie hadn't told me about the cancer. My father tended to keep his feelings bottled in and he was as stubborn as I was about asking for help. Instead, it was his longtime girlfriend, Sue Clearwater, who had ﬁnally called me last week. Sue and I got along okay but our conversations were awkward at best, I knew something was wrong if she was calling me. Like a parent ripping off a Band-Aid off a child's scraped knee, she told me quickly. Sue had waited patiently while I sorted the new information in my head and pushed the tears back. Then, she'd told me that Charlie needed me, even though he wouldn't admit it.

I slowed my pace down as I neared the house, my muscles started to ache and the air burned in my chest. I took a deep breath, preparing myself to go inside. Every day the shock of seeing my father sick and beaten down by this invisible villain was a little easier but it still frightened me. He was so fragile now, nothing like the man that I remembered from my childhood. He moved slower, as if each step was harder than the one before. Chemotherapy had rid him of the dark hair he once had, he had lost weight, and while he assured me it wasn't much I could see his cheeks were hollowed and even with a belt his pants were loose.

I pushed open the front door and pulled my sneakers off in the small living room before walking into the kitchen. It was still painted in a cheery yellow that was starting to fade and peel in some places; it brought back memories of summers spent cooking up the fresh ﬁsh dad and his best friend Billy Black had caught earlier in the morning. I couldn't wait to grow up back then but now I would give almost anything to be sixteen again.

I could smell coffee but no one was in the kitchen, I tried to remember if dad had a doctor's appointment today.

"Dad? Sue?" I called out, sticking my head out of the kitchen towards the stairs. "I'm home."

"Just getting dressed Bells. I'll be down in a minute." My dad yelled from upstairs. He sounded good and I felt the grip on my chest lessen a little bit, maybe today would be a good day for him. I poured myself a cup of coffee and grabbed my dad's mug from the cabinet as well. I had made it in art class for him. It was supposed to be a tree and a bluebird but I was six at the time and it turned out like smears of green, brown and blue. I added some sugar to my mug and leaned back against the counter.

I wasn't sure how he took his coffee, this last week Sue had always been here in the mornings to ﬁx it for him and when I was younger he was normally already at work before I got up. I wondered where Sue was. She still had her own place on the Quileute reservation but even back when I was a teenager she spent more time here then she did at her own house. My coffee was cool enough to drink by the time Charlie came downstairs.

I watched him carefully; trying to pick out anything that would give me better insight into how today was going to go. I made a mental note to ask Sue about his sleeping habit after seeing the dark bags underneath his eyes, Charlie would just brush me off if I asked him.

"Morning dad. How are you feeling?"

"Good. How was your run?" He sat down at the table.

"Wet. How do you take your coffee? I can't remember."

"Black. Thanks."

I set his coffee in front of him and sat down in the chair next to him. His hand shook slightly as he reached for the handle.

I took a drink of my coffee. "Did Sue go down the res?"

He nodded his head. "Leah needed to talk to her."

Leah Clearwater was Sue's daughter; she was just a few years younger than me. I continued to watch him while we sat in silence for a few minutes.

"Did you take your pills this morning?"

"All three of them. Listen, you don't need to babysit me. I'm a grown man." He stated ﬁrmly, looking at me with the same expression as when he grounded me for two weeks after I snuck out one night to see an R-rated movie when I was fourteen.

He spoke again, his voice a little bit softer. "Nothing's going to happen if I'm by myself for an hour sweetie. I'll be ﬁne."

"I know that dad. I was actually going to go down to the Gazette and see if I could ﬁnd something part time. I was also going to try the diner, Angela's working there now and she says they are looking for help." I rested my chin in my hand and sighed. "I'm just not sure I'll make enough."

"I told Sue not to call you, I told her you had a good job lined up." He grumbled.

And here we go. "You should have called me dad. I don't care if I was making a million dollars. Plus, I hadn't even accepted the job yet."

"Hmph"

I ignored him and continued. "It's okay. I want to be here for you".

He drank his coffee and pulled the newspaper that Sue must have brought in earlier, over to him, signaling that the conversation was over.

"Do you want some more coffee?" I asked him, getting up and placing my own empty cup into the sink.

"I can only have one cup now, the medication and all that." He trailed off picking through the ads in the paper.

"Oh okay. " I hadn't even noticed that he had only been drinking one cup of coffee now. "Okay. I'm going to shower; I'll be down in a few minutes. Holler if you need anything."

I left him in the kitchen and headed up the stairs to my room. My cellphone that I had left charging on the nightstand chirped letting me know I had a missed call. I unplugged it and scrolled through the missed calls. All of them were from my ex-boyfriend James. I deleted them quickly. James and I had dated for almost two years and then last month I had come home early to catch him screwing some red-head against the shower wall.

Since then he had called every day begging me to take him back and telling me how sorry he was and how she never meant anything to him. No doubt that by now he had heard from friends what` happened to Charlie and knowing him he would try and use it to get back in my pants. I didn't love James, I just thought I did, I realized that the day after I broke up with him. I guess I just loved the idea of being in love. It was comforting to know that at the end of a shitty day there was someone waiting for you when you got home. It wasn't that I lay awake at night dreaming of a big white dress or anything but the thought that it may be a possibility was in the back of my mind.

I took a pair of jeans and tank top out of my suitcase, as I hadn't unpacked my things yet, and marched into the small bathroom to shower. I showered and dressed quickly, grabbing the ﬁrst hoodie I saw before heading downstairs. Sue came in the front door when I got to the last step.

"Hi, how's Leah?" I asked as I pulled on the hoodie over my damp hair.

Her face stretched into a giant smile.

"She's getting married. Married! Can you believe that?" She gave me a quick hug. "Charlie? Did you hear me? Leah and Jake are getting married."

Her excitement was contagious and I found myself smiling as well. Jake and Leah-go ﬁgure. The two had been dating for a while but I never pictured Jake as the "settle down and marry" type.

I heard something scrape against the ﬂoor in the kitchen and I peeked in to see if my dad needed any help getting over to us. He seemed to be doing ﬁne on as his own. He was smiling when he reached us.

I bent down and grabbed my Chucks.

"There's so much to do and Bella it's great that you'll be here for the wedding. They want to be married by the end of November. Leah's already called Alice Cullen to help plan everything."

I paused, one shoe on and the other in my hand. Alice Cullen still lived in Forks? I saw my dad lift up his hand.

"November? That's less than two months away. Is she pregnant? Billy's my best friend but I'm sure he'll have no objection to me smacking his son around."

"Dad!"

"Charlie!"

Sue and I both screamed at the same time. While Sue and Charlie had never even talked about marriage, at least not to us anyway, I know Charlie cared for Leah just as he did for me. I switched back to Alice, trying to sound nonchalant while inside I was panicking.

"Alice Cullen still lives here?"

Sue looked at me like I had just asked if ﬁsh live in the ocean. "Of course dear. She owns a nice little party planning business.

I busied myself with getting my other shoe on. My dad cleared his throat.

"Bells, she asks about you all the time. I uh…gave her your number a year ago." He looked sheepish.

I know he had. I had listened to her voicemails and I had promptly deleted them. All of the Cullen's had at some point tried to contact me through Facebook and I ignored them all. Six years later their actions, or rather lack of action still stung. Alice Cullen had been my best friend and then senior year she had stabbed me in the back. I had been humiliated and betrayed.

Sue had moved back to talking about Leah so I just waved at them and reached for a set of keys hanging on the hook by the door.

I walked out to the beast. The beast was my name for the truck dad had brought me when I turned sixteen. It was older then I was but as long as you didn't go over sixty miles an hour it ran just ﬁne. I didn't take it with me when I left for Phoenix and Charlie had kept it parked out back. I pulled on the door and climbed into the cab, starting it quickly and listening to the engine growl.

Two hours later I was sitting at the counter of the diner talking to Angela.

"The paper was a no go, huh?" Angela asked me as she brought out my sandwich. I smothered fry in ketchup and wagged it in front of me.

"Tyler Crowley told me that he would keep me in mind but the paper is already talking about having to let some people go." I sighed, feeling sorry for those that might lose their jobs and for myself as a job with the paper would have been perfect for me.

Angela Weber leaned over the counter to talk to me. "What about Newtons Sporting Goods?"

I groaned at the thought of working at Newtons.

"What?" Angela asked." You worked there during high school and Mrs. Newton loved you. Or better yet get a job here and work with me." She held her hands up like she Vanna White. I laughed and shook my head.

"Come on, you wouldn't have to work with Mike." Angela shuddered when she got done talking.

I chewed a French fry and mulled it over in my head. I probably wouldn't make as much money here as I would working at the store but Angela was right, I wouldn't have to deal with Mike Newton. He was slimy enough in high school and I bet he was even worse now.

"Yeah, here sounds good. Can I have an application?"

Angela shook her head, her brown ponytail bouncing against her shoulders. "I'll just give Marcus your number."

She swiped a fry from my plate and went to check on another table. I was lucky to have a friend like her and I was excited about catching up with her while I was back in Forks.

I ﬁnished my BLT while waiting for her to come back over but it looked like the diner was getting its lunch rush. I scribbled a note telling her I would call her and put it along with a twenty under my empty plate.

I wasn't paying attention as I went to leave the diner and my foot caught the corner of a piece of carpet that was sticking up. I put my hands out in front of me, bracing myself to hit the ﬂoor. Instead I hit something else.

"Christ. Are you okay?" His voice was smooth yet burning: like whiskey. His hand was curled around my bicep keeping me upright. I didn't need to look up to see who had saved me from an untimely meeting with the ﬂoor, but I did anyway because I already looked enough of a fool. My stomach dropped and I felt like I was out of air.

Edward Cullen.

I melted inside; time had only made him hotter. His hair was shorter now but it still stood up in disarray-like he had just rolled out of bed. He had great hair. He was dressed in slacks and blue shirt. No tie, but he still looked professionally put together.

"Thank you." I whispered the words so low I wasn't even sure if he heard them.

He was searching my face, trying to ﬁgure out if he knew me. I felt momentarily frozen by the stare in his green eyes. His touch was burning and I jerked out of his grip. He was still looking at me, still attempting to place me. If I stood here any longer I was positive he would recognize me. I had just turned to push through the door when I heard Angela shout my name.

"Bella!" She looked over to me. "You come back here right now, this is too much. Your sandwich was only six dollars." She was holding my change in the air. I felt my face heat up and I cursed her under my breath as I marched over to Angela.

"Thanks Ang. I'll call you later." I took a ﬁve from her hand and motioned for her to keep the rest.I avoided looking at Edward, though I could feel his eyes on me, and shot through the door as if the place was on ﬁre. I hurried over to the truck and started the engine and the heat.

Why did he have to look so damn good? I wanted nothing more than to take him somewhere and run my ﬁngers through that mess of hair and feel him up against me. I thought as I drove back to Charlie's. If I had already run into Edward it wouldn't be long before I was sure to run into the others. I was panicking at the thought of seeing all of them. I had changed a lot in six years but there were some things that you never forget and what happened that night was one of them.

It was selﬁsh to even think about skipping Leah's wedding, plus Charlie still needed me. There was no denying that at some point in the near future I would have to come face to face with Alice, and even the others. I took a deep breath. I was a strong and intelligent woman. I would ﬁnd a way to handle her. And him.

**Thanks for reading. Let me know if you love it…or if you hate it. **


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